CALL FOR PAPERS

Jazz Perspectives

Special Issue - Rethinking Jazz Studies through the 1970s


Guest Edited by Eric Porter, Associate Professor of American Studies, 
University of California, Santa Cruz, USA

The 1970s is a vexed and vexing decade in the field of jazz studies, as it 
is in other areas of historical and cultural analysis. The variety of 
musical fusions and experiments that pulled artists and audiences in 
different directions caused Duke Ellington in 1973 to put a somewhat 
different spin on his long-standing suspicion of the term “jazz”: “I don’t 
know how such great extremes as now exist can be contained under the one 
heading.”  Decades later the 1970s often fare poorly in jazz histories. 
The decade is sometimes viewed as a period defined more by its aesthetic 
failures than by its successes or simply as a moment when “nothing was 
happening” in the music. Yet recent scholarly work, CD reissues, and 
testimony by artists, fans, and producers indicate not only that much was 
happening but that it was happening in ways that continue to influence the 
music world. Among other things, the decade witnessed the political, self-
help, and pedagogical projects of African American and multiracial jazz 
collectives; the influence of the women’s movement on the music of, modes 
of presentation of, and attitudes toward female jazz musicians; the loft 
jazz scene; the institutionalization of jazz education; the important role 
jazz-trained musicians played in the development of other popular musics; 
the proliferation of independent record companies; and, yes, the birth of 
jazz neoclassicism. 

The purpose of this issue is to reconsider the place of the 1970s in jazz 
studies. In addition to showcasing scholarship on important musical 
phenomena developing during the 1970s, we seek pieces that consider the 
question of how the incorporation of such phenomena into jazz history and 
jazz studies might inspire us to reconsider their parameters.  We welcome 
essays representing a variety of approaches and disciplines.


SUBMISSIONS

The deadline for submissions is September 1, 2008. Essays should be 
between 7,000 and 10,000 words, including footnotes or endnotes. 

Submissions should be sent by email to Eric Porter ([log in to unmask]). 

Instructions for authors can be found at 
www.tandf.co.uk/journals/authors/rjazauth.pdf 

Questions are welcome and should be addressed to Eric Porter. Longer 
pieces will be considered only after consultation.


ABOUT JAZZ PERSPECTIVES

Winner of the inaugural ALPSP/ Charlesworth Best New Journal Award 2007, 
Jazz Perspectives is a refereed, interdisciplinary journal that bridges 
the jazz-as-music and jazz-as-culture divide of contemporary jazz studies. 
It also promotes broader international perspectives on the jazz tradition 
and its legacy.

www.informaworld.com/rjaz